Gov. Bill Haslam said Tuesday he sees no need for any more gun legislation at the state level, but in general likes the idea advanced at the federal level of expanded background checks for firearm purchases.
“I think we’ve addressed the gun laws we need to (address) in Tennessee right now,” Haslam said in answering a question posed from the audience at the American Legion Auxiliary Volunteer Girls State.
He cited as a capstone of state gun laws legislation signed into law earlier this year that allows handgun permit holders to keep their weapons in a locked vehicle almost anywhere, including the parking lot of employers who prohibit guns on their property.
But at the federal level, the governor said he was open to at least one change.
“I think there has to be a better way to do background checks. … It makes sense and I think we can do it without infringing on people’s Second Amendment rights,” he said.
Asked to elaborate later by reporters, Haslam said sees no need for either expansion or restriction of gun rights in Tennessee.
“If it was my preference, there wouldn’t be any gun legislation brought up in the next (legislative) session,” he said. “Now, obviously, we’ve got 132 people (state legislators) who get to decide what they do. But for me, I think the status quo would be OK.”
He declined to give any specifics on background checks, including whether he would support ending what gun control advocates characterize as a the “gun show loophole” in current federal law. Though background checks are required for purchases at retail gun stores, they are not mandatory for sales at gun show events.
“I don’t have anything in mind,” he said. “I don’t know enough to be specific about that. … I think there are people into that who are further down that road than I am.”
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And this from Andy Sher’s report on the governor’s comments:
Tennessee Firearms Association Executive Director John Harris on Tuesday called the new law (“guns in parking lots”) an “abomination” that needs to put right to protect gun owners as they commute to and from work.
Meanwhile, Harris said the group has more proposals on its agenda.
“Our to-do list has probably got 30 or so areas on it at this point,” he said. “We’ve always got a list of what do we want to change.”
One issue the group is interested in is what it calls “constitutional carry” law.
It says that as a citizen, Tennesseans don’t need to obtain a state-issued handgun-carry permit. Five states have such statutes while Kentucky has a modified version, Harris said.
Harris noted that during his 2010 campaign for governor, “Haslam said he didn’t mind and would sign” such legislation into law. Then, Harris said, Haslam “immediately flip flopped on that and he’s never flipped back into it.”